Wolf Espionage By Elanor Parkinson and Dave Atze, Redgum Book Club, 2015. ‘Wold Espionage is a rollicking story of an undercover wolf named Wiliam whose ill-fated approach to espionage leads him to vegetarianism.’ Reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote, Wolf Espionage tells the tale of a wolf called William that lived on Wellwood Farm. William was so hungry that he decided to go undercover and try and find some tucker! He dresses up as different animals he finds on the farm and tries to befriend them, but they all whack him and poke him, because they know he isn’t really one of them. Wolf Espionage follows a days-of-the-week format where William the Wolf approaches different animals on different days of the week. William discovers that if he disguises himself as an apple or a peapod, then he doesn’t get whacked or poked, and he discovers that it is easier to become vegetarian than try to eat the animals. Wolf Espionage is quite a delightful little story, and it was written by a young 12-year-old girl! Awards Winner: 2016 Young Writers’ Award Picture Book category The Young Writers Award is open to young authors aged between 9 and 13 years. Young writers have…

The Outback By Annaliese Porter and Bronwyn Bancroft, Magabala Books, 2005. Dark, red earth surrounding flat, stony plains — gibbers lay on scorching sand, where seldom it rains. What a lovely little book, richly illustrated in the style of traditional Australian Aboriginal paintings. The illustrations depict recognisable Australian animals, like goannas, snakes, wallabies and cockatoos, and landscapes such as the desert plains and Uluru. The Outback tells the tale of the harshness of the land, the desert, and the desert animals. This is a bush ballad about the Australian outback that was written by Annaliese Porter when she was only eight years old! She is one of Australia’s youngest published writers. What a great example of a story to read to a young writer 🙂